SUMMER 2017
www.chemicalindustryjournal.co.uk
SOLVENTS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION z
Main image: Filming of the forthcoming transport safety film at a facility in Rotterdam Below: Drum filling – a source of static build-up
production of a series of safety films designed for all companies and employees handling chemical solvents. The most recent covered ‘Safe Handling of Solvents’, ‘Solvents and Static Electricity’, and ‘Solvents and IBCs’. So far more than 10,000 copies have been distributed across Europe and beyond in five different languages. The SIA has also been the driving force behind an ESIG-produced film covering the ‘Safe Use of Gloves’. A further film covering the ‘Safe Loading and Transportation of Solvents by Road’ is currently in production and is due to be released later this summer. At first glance, many of these topics can appear to be unexciting but anyone who has viewed readily-available film clips of incidents which have taken place involving road tankers or in the filling of IBCs will be fully aware of the unseen risks which can exist in the handling of solvents. Preventative actions, assisted by such documents and visual aids as the use of Guidance Notes and safety films can only improve the practices of individuals handling solvents, wherever they may be.
seeking greater knowledge of the solvents industry. In the past three years it has already been delivered to over 200 delegates and has been rolled out across Europe in collaboration with ESIG. Such has been the success of the course that the Association is now in the final stages of launching its follow-up, ‘Solvents and their Applications’. Training is an integral part of any solvents education programme and these courses reinforce the SIA’s commitment to Responsible Care and to Product Stewardship, a fact recognised when the SIA was awarded the coveted SME Assistance Trophy by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) in 2013.
In addition to the production of safety films, the SIA is now presenting training courses. The most recent, ‘An Introduction to the Solvents Industry’, is aimed at new starters or those
Said to regularly punch above its weight, the SIA is now well established among the European chemical industry as a constructive and positive contributor to all matters
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related to the safe use of solvents. SIA General Secretary Andrew Norman commented, “Despite being a relatively small UK-based trade association, our outreach is now truly global. Whether it be the on-line availability of our safety films, training courses or Guidance Notes, the influence of the SIA now enables all sectors of the solvent-using supply chain to implement best practice wherever their operation may be.” For further information, visit the SIA website at www.solvents.org.uk